The ICANN Salary Debate

CircleID published a noteworthy article yesterday about salaries at ICANN.

The author, George Kirikos, raises some interesting points. Though ICANN is a non-profit, it gives its employees salaries and job security on par with the corporate sector. Despite the presence of a recession, ICANN has laid off no one and has actually raised salaries!

Kirikos argues that ICANN salaries should be scrutinized against those at other non-profits like hospitals and universities. He believes ICANN employees shouldn’t be compensated any higher than workers at these places.

While there is considerable doubt about whether the organization deserves non-profit status, ICANN employees deserve higher salaries than the industry norm. Why? These are the people running the Internet. We want the most qualified, competent individuals making the decisions that determine the future of the web.

In the coming months and years, ICANN will face more and more competition from the private sector. If it intends to survive, it needs to be able to lure professionals from the highest paying jobs. Just because it’s non-profit doesn’t mean it has to be stuck with the applicants who didn’t get jobs at Google/Microsoft/IBM.